> why would the public require physical access if they have an online reading room.

Respectfully, I really disagree with this line of thought:

* Having digital facsimiles of your collection makes it more accessible and more available

* More people knowing about your collection means more foot traffic

* Some things about a collection can't be discovered from a digitized copy; having a record of the digitized copy encourages researchers to come in and see the real deal

* Maybe scholarship doesn't have to happen IRL? See Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad: a fantastic novel that was researched primarily online [0]

0. https://newsandfeatures.uncg.edu/grant-expand-digital-librar...